


Civil Misery

by CourfeyracFredMariusCratchit



Category: Civil War Musical, Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Canon character deaths, Gen, OFC - Freeform, OMC - Freeform, Songfic, crosspost from FF.N
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-28
Updated: 2013-08-28
Packaged: 2017-12-24 21:58:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/945122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CourfeyracFredMariusCratchit/pseuds/CourfeyracFredMariusCratchit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Moments from the barricades, set to music from Civil War Musical. Chapter titles are the name of the song referenced.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Brother, My Brother

It's too late for me, and too late for them. Yes, I approve of political opinions, but surely this is going a bit too far! After all, they'll be slaughtered, going up against National Guardsmen, but I suppose that's why they do it. To protest how futile life is… but why does it have to pit brother against brother? Why do they have to fight it out? Could the battle not be fought in the courtroom, where less lives are at risk? But that was besides the point…after all, I myself had come to die, but not before I do some small good, to make up for the greatest sin of all…

The quiet before the charge is eerily like that of mourning, and it makes me think…. _God has heard your battle call. Now he'll watch this_ … **.who have their whole _lives_ ahead of them** … _his precious children learn how to stand_ …..And as a single gunshot rang out… _learn how to fall._ I looked away briefly, not wanting to see who it was the first shot had fell. If I make it out of this, which I don't intend to, I would never feel shame at that… _And the silence of the night will be broken by the cries of the ones who've been forgotten on the quiet field where honor lies_.

Then, I saw it…my chance. Their banner had fallen, so I took it up myself, not even caring as the bullets pierced this shell of mine… _learn how to stand, learn how to fall_ … **.I've learned how to fall, Father. Take me…**.


	2. For the Glory

**Enjolras**

Today, the people will rise! I know it, I can feel it, and I can see it! The liars on the other side say that the people will never rise…but how can they not? The time  _is_ here! True, there have been casualties, but there has never been true change without it. And it's not just for ourselves that we fight, and that's what makes it so glorious!  _For the Glory, for the men who've gone before, for the men who will come after, we will wage this bloody war. For the Glory, for the truth we hold so dear…let us give the last full measure, gathered here, for the Glory._

* * *

**A National Guardsman**

Here it is…what we've been trained for. You better believe I'm hyped up. We're finally going to put down the scum that threatens our good King and his reign, and I've never felt so alive! I look at them, and I don't just see college students, as they claim themselves to be. I see a doomed, subversive group that refuses to see reason. Never mind the fact that France is doing just fine without their precious Republic!  _For the Glory, for the Dixie that I know! For the way of life we cherish, let us die, or let us go! For the Glory, for the words we hold so dear, let us give the last full measure, gathered here, for the Glory!_

* * *

**Young Girl**

As I find my way through the scattered bodies, I search especially hard to find that voice I've been hearing all night. If someone's still alive here, I need to find them! I can't just leave them to die, it'd be inhuman. I follow the voice, which was getting fainter by the second. Almost on its own accord, my small body avoided grapeshot. Finally, I find the poor Monsieur. He's dressed in street clothes, but could have been fighting for either side. In fact, I don't think he was fighting at all…My thoughts are interrupted as he moans, asking for water. I recognize immediately that I was called to him, not to heal, but to ease his parting. So I start to sing, a lilting lullaby in English. " _Sleep in my arms, now. All your pain is passed. Sleep, for you have traveled far. Now you've come home, at last."_  I hear more girls, called to a similar purpose begin the same song, and we start the second verse in harmony, poignant and hauntingly simple. " _Rest for a while now. All your work is done. Rest here in my waiting arms, now that your race is run."_


	3. By the Sword/Sons of Dixie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is heavily edited based on some advice I had gotten after having publishing on ff.n

**Courfeyrac:**

You may think it strange, but I've been looking  ** _forward_**  to the Barricade. Not just as the dawn of as new day, but as a cure for ennui. I know, it sounds really bad. But before I met Enjolras and the others, my only  _real_  friends were my ex-mistresses…not the most comfortable of silences, or stimulating of conversations. That and a chance to stick it to the King. After all, who's he to dictate how I practice law, or deal with my mistress?  _I won't let no damn Yankee tell me how I'm gunna live! I won't forget, and you can bet, I ain't tendin' to forgive!_  I can't help but get excited! We, regular kids, can make a  ** _difference_**  in this city, in this country, in this world! _When the Sons of Dixie_ _take to the field, then the battle is won, for we never will yield!_  And when I listen to Enjolras speak, or see Combeferre quietly standing by...there's no temptation to even begin to doubt. _When the Sons of Dixie fire their guns, then we'll all see how fast that a scared Yankee runs!_

* * *

 

**National Guardsman:**

We've had a tip from an anonymous source that the college students are going to revolt soon. Stupid, pigheaded little ingrates…. _When the blue meets the gray, all the rebels will pay, by the sword!_ This fight will be over before it even starts! Not that I really mind…with a wife and kids at home, I can't exactly afford to lose my life over something stupid, like one of the brats actually firing off a round. You know, I can't help but think back on the first day of training…one week ago _._ _I remember the first day well fell in for drill we were green as a new dollar bill. I remember your mamma just cried through the night when her Charlie-boy left for the fight._ Charles never really was cut out for service, but that didn't really stop him from getting officer within a week, but go figure.


	4. Tell My Father

You know, I've always felt just a bit awkward when mes amis start talking about how awful their fathers are. My father was the best I could ever ask for! I mean, there were things I couldn't tell him later on, but during my childhood, he was the one I could always turn to, the one who would make things right when they were wrong.

Now, the time has come for me to make my father proud. I fight among friends, but I truly fight for him! As a small boy runs by, I realize that it's probably my only chance to get a message out. I call out to him, " _Tell my father that his son didn't run or surrender!"_  And I won't! It doesn't matter what kind of hell we face here, I won't give up. Not on my friends, not on my family, and most definitely not on him!  _I bore his name with pride… **yes, let it be said that I bore the name Prouvaire with pride…** as I tried to remember._ Remember him, remember mother….how could I ever forget them?

 _You are judged by what you do while passing through…_ I've always tried to live by that. Mostly because my father taught me that if you lived like tomorrow was the Judgment Day, you would surely go to heaven.

 

As I watch the National Guardsmen gather 'round, I feel certain that I'm to die. After all, I'm the only one they've managed to catch…and I refuse to tell them anything! I wouldn't betray my friends like that, but now I see that they mean to kill me.  _As I rest 'Neath fields of green, let him lean on your shoulder. **Who will tell him, when all this is over, that his son was executed amidst the barricades?**  Tell him how I spent my youth- **Definitely youth…I'm the youngest Amis, barring only Gavroche, but he doesn't really count, does he?-** so the truth can grow older._ I sigh a bit, and the Guardsmen seem to come to a decision. The firing squad lines up. _Tell my father, when you can, I was a man._

As they load the guns, my only consolation is that, once they fire, death will come quickly. It's strange, when I was little my worst fear was loud noises…like gunfire. Only fitting that they should accompany me to my death. But I swallow my fear, and face the firing squad like a man, not just a poet.  _Tell him we will meet again, where the angels learn to fly. Tell him we will meet as men, for with honor did I die…_ "Vive la Revolution!" And they fire. For a moment, I'm filled with agony unlike anything I've ever felt.  **God, it _hurts!_**  Then, peacefulness. I feel rather than see my spirit leave my body, and I follow the spirit, after one last goodbye to the flesh.

As I look down one last time at the brothers in arms I've so soon left, I can't help but think on my father. Would he be proud of me?  ** _Yes._** _Tell him how I wore the Blue proud and true, like he taught us. Tell my father not to cry, then say goodbye._

**Author's Note:**

> I'm crossposting this from ff.n without a lot of the pointless A/N's from that. Chapter names are song titles, and italics are song lyrics, bold are character thoughts.


End file.
